A Week at Mahathai

Monday we had our Sabbath day. Dave took us downtown to the most expensive mall in Bangkok for a little lunch (Dairy Queen and Auntie Anne's pretzels was involved for most of us). We went over to another mall and did some shopping and saw Up, the new Disney-Pixar flick. Dave wanted us to have the experience of a Thai movie - they have a video montage at the beginning of the movie with the king's anthem and everyone stands to listen to the anthem and pay respect to the king. We did some serious shopping - most of these girls like to shop, as you probably know! We went for a massage, an Italian dinner, and then to the Night Bazaar. It's a completely overwhelming place with all kinds of things, and did some more shopping there. We did a lot of bartering, which was fun too. Some of the girls were pretty impressed with the deals they got.

Yesterday was a very busy day. We learned more Thai and how the Gospel applies to mercy ministry differently than to Western culture. Then we prepared for VBS at Mahathai - the poor community near New Community ministry center. We spent the (very warm) afternoon painting the sala (room/small building). When the kids started coming home from school (about 4pm) we rounded up a bunch of all ages to go to the park for volleyball, cheerleading, and just playing. Some of these kids have boundless energy! We fed all of the kids in the park and then brought them back to the sala at Mahathai for VBS. "It was tiring, but satisfying," says Katy. They had a lot of fun running after the kids and getting hugs from them. We told the story of Noah and did a craft with them. They also love candy!

Please continue to pray for us as the Spirit works in us. In the park, people will walk up to us and just start speaking with us because we are Americans and they want to practice their English. I (Kristin) had a 20 minute conversation yesterday with a woman walking through the park about her family, both of our faiths, her job, and life in general. She may be coming back today to talk with us again. Please continue to pray for our health and strength and energy level as the kids here need a lot of energy and a lot of love.

Thanks so much for your partnership in the Gospel!

p.s. Sorry no pictures today....just not enough time. More soon!